
Class 
Book. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



HISTOEY 



OF 



Paul lUmxts Signal Canterns 



APRIL 18, 1775, 



IN THE 

STEEPLE OF THE NORTH CHURCH: 

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF 

THE TABLET ON CHRIsT CHURCH AND THE MONUMENTS AT 
HIGHLAND PARK AND DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 



•^ 



BY WILLIAM W. -WHEILDON. 



AVITII HELIOTTPE OF CHRIST CHURCH. 



CONCORD: / 

author's PRIVATE PRINTING OFFICE, 

1878. 

9^ 







^^•V<^.\My . 



COPY-RIGHT 
BY WILLIAxM W. WHEILDON, 

1878. 



Author's address : Concord, Mass. 



<^' 






PRESS-WORK 
BY RAND, AVERY AND CO. 

FRANKLIN STREET, 

Boston. 



TO THE MEMORY OF 

JOSEPH WARREN, 

WHO PROMPTED THE PATRIOTIC MOVEMENTS OF APRIL 18tH ; 

PAUL REVERE, 

WHOSE FORESIGHT PROVIDED FOR THE SIGNAL LANTERNS ; 

ROBERT NEWMAN, 

WHO DISPLAYED THE LANTERNS FROM THE CHURCH STEEPLE ; 
AND THEIR PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATES, 

THIS VOLUME 
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTORY 



The attention of the writer was called to the subject of Paul 
Revere's Signal Lanterns subsequently to the action of the 
Citj Council of 1876, in relation to a tablet and inscription to 
be placed on Christ Church, to indicate the place where they 
were shown. It was somewhat surprising that any doubt should 
be thrown upon the accepted history of that incident, either as 
to the place where the lanterns were displayed, the sole au- 
thor and the purpose of them, or the party by whona they were 
shown. It is a satisfaction to know that that doubt has been 
dispelled, and it is now believed the true history must be con- 
sidered as established. 

In preparing the history of this interesting event, — preced- 
ing the expedition of Gen. Gage's troops to Concord, — the sin- 
gle question of the location of the signal lanterns, was by no 
means the only consideration. Statements and assertions, con- 
nected with this incident, or brought into the discussion, have 
been made, which, if any value is to be placed on the truthful- 
ness of history and the honor of those who were engaged in 
making it, ought to be met and answered. Without particular- 
izing any of these, some of which have been considered, the 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

sole aim has been to reach the truth, as clearly as possible, by 
the light of the evidence now accessible. 

At the second or third hearing given by the committee of the 
City Council on the subject, in December, 1877, after a post- 
ponement of the purpose for a year, the Rev. Dr. Burroughs, 
Rector of Christ Church, oifered for the consideration of 
the committee some facts and opinions, included in the present 
history, but necessarily in an incomplete form. Since that 
time the history of the incident has been completed, and is now 
presented for the consideration of the Council and the public, 
and it is hoped that it will be found to confirm the action of the 
City Council in placing the tablet upon Christ Chvrck and 
prove to be a correct and satisfactory account of the interesting 
event which has been so suitably commemorated. 

The Author. 
Concord, Mass., October 17, 1878. 



ORDER OF NARRATION. 



I. Preliminary History. 9 

Proposed Tablet on Christ Church. 
North End iMechanics. 
Committees of Safety and Supplies 
Message to Hancock and Adams. 
Origin of the Signal Lanterns. 
Action of the Committees. 
Meeting at Menotomy. 

II. Devens Memorandum. 13 

Character of the paper. 
Mr. Frothingham's Statements. 
Evidence of the Signal Lanterns. 
Value of the Memorandum. 

III. Revere's Narrative. 18 

Its character. 

Second message to Lexington. 

Interview with Devens. 

Who saw the Signal Lanterns. 

Character of Paul Revere. 

IV. North End Churches. 21 

1. Second Church. 

2. New North Church. 

3. New Brick Church. 

4. Christ Church or North Church. 



PAGE. 

V. Question Considered. 24 

Second or "old North church" 
Revere's View of Boston. 
British Troops in North Square. 
Dismissal of Rev. Dr. Byles. 
New Brick Church steeple. 
Revere's accuracy. 
Longfellow's Poem. 
In Conclusion. 

VI. Traditionary History. 31 
Character of the evidence. 

" What, then, is tradition?" 
The Newmar. Family. 
Traditionary Testimony. 

VII. Pulling Tradition. 31 

Its bold announcement. 
The Pulling Story. 
Town Committees, 1776. 
Reported arrest of Newman. 
Escape of Pulling. 

VIII. Concluding Remarks. 50 
Conclusions. 

Historical Inaccuracies. 52 



REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 



I. Tablet on Christ Church. 

Description and dimensions. 
Purpose of Signal Lanterns. 
Proposed Inscription. 
Correspondence and Correction. 
Inscription adopted. 

II. Roxbury High Fort. 
Description of the Fort. 
Description of the Monument. 
Inscription. 



III. Dorchester Heights. 

Occupation of, first proposed, 1775. 

" deeided, Feb. 1776. 

Occupied March 4th, 177G. 
" Novel mode of Defence.'' 
Inscription on the monument. 

New Chapter in the History/ of 

the Concord Fight. 

Events and Movements relating 
to the Nineteenth of April. 



On the 30th of March, G.ige sent out several regiments under Earl Percy, 
to Jamaica Plain, across to Dorchester, and over the Neck into town again ; and 
it was thought at the time they went out that they might be going to Concord, 
which it was supposed they soon would do. 

1775. April 14. " If the enemy moves into the country, (which by all 
their manoeuvres at present, there remains no dispute of,) the country are de- 
termined to oppose 'em ; at least if they proceed in a hostile manner."' [An- 
drews' letters, page 402. 

"Dr. Warren, by a mere accident, had notice of it, [the movement of the 
troops towards the bottom of the common,] just in time to send messengers 
over the Neck and across the ferry to Lexington, before the orders for prevent- 
ing every person's quitting the town were executed." [Gordon's History. 



PAUL REVERE'S SiaNAL LANTERNS. 



I. PRELIMINARY HISTORY. 

It appears to have been the purpose of the late City Gov- 
ernment to place a Memorial Tablet upon Christ Church, on 
Salem street, with the intention of indicating that as the build- 
ing from which the signal lanterns of Paul Revere were shown, 
on the 18th of April, 1775 ; and this purpose seems to have 
been postponed by reason of some doubts thrown upon the sub- 
ject by a recent communication addressed to the Mayor of the 
city.* The writer of this communication, for the information 
which he communicates and the conclusions which he reaches, 
relies upon " a memorandum, without date, in the hand writing 
of Richard Devens, made [as he supposes], not long after this 
period ; in a letter written by Paul Revere, printed in 1789 ; 
and in various contemporary authorities," which are not men- 
tioned. Of these papers, and the conclusions expressed, we 
propose to speak. 

North End Mechanics. 

It is well known that the abortive attempt of Colonel Leslie 
to seize the cannon at Salem, in the latter part of February, 
1775, put the patriots of Boston on the watch for any new 



* Letter to His Honor Samuel C. Cobb, Mayor, and Gentlemen of the City 
Council, by Richard Frothingham. Boston, December 28, 1876. 



10 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

movement on the part of General Gage, and it was very early 
suspected that he had designs upon the cannon, stores and am- 
munition, at Concord, of which it was afterwards known, he 
was fully informed by the treachery of Dr. Church. 

Paul Revere and about thirty other " North End Mechan- 
ics," in the Fall of 1774, formed themselves into a committee 
to watch the movements of the British soldiers, and held their 
meetings at the famous Green Dragon Tavern, until they sus- 
pected a traitor there. Towards Spring they took turns, two by 
two, to watch the soldiers by patrolling the streets during the 
nights. Revere says, 

[April 15.] " The Saturday night previous to the 19th of 
April, about 12 o'clock at night, the boats belonging to the 
transports, were all launched and carried under the sterns of 
the men-of-war," and subsequently it was learned that " the 
grenadiers and light infantry Avere all taken off duty." 

Committees of Safety and Supplies. 

On this day, at Concord, the Provincial Congress, which had 
been in session since the 22d of March, adjourned at the close 
of an afternoon session, which commenced at 3 o'clock. The 
Committee of Safety and Committee of Supplies, were also in 
session at Concord, and did not adjourn at the same time (Sat- 
urday) having important business before them. Mr. Devens 
was a member of Congress and of the Committee of Safety, and 
was present at Concord during the sessions of these bodies ; but 
was not, at this time. Commissary. 

First Message to Hancock and Adams. 

[Sunday, April 16. J On this day, in consequence of the dis- 
covery of the launching of the boats, (which had been laid up 



p,vuL reverb's signal lanterns. 11 

during the winter,) Dr. Warren desired Paul Revere to go to 
the residence of Rev. Jonas Clark, in Lexington, with a mes- 
sage to Messrs. Hancock and Adams, who passed their nights 
at Mr. Clark's house, while attendino; the sessions of Congress, 
at Concord, where, of course, accommodations must have been 
very limited for so large a body, as there were 216 members at 
Cambridge when the Congress adjourned to Concord. Revere, 
taking a horse from Charlestown, delivered his message as 
directed, and it is generally stated that Hancock immediately 
forwarded it to Concord ; but this is probably a mistake. 

First Idea of the Signals. 

We come now to the origin of the sio-nals : In the afternoon , 
Revere returned to Boston, making a stop at Charlestown, to 
leave his horse. It had occurred to him that if a movement of 
the troops should be made towards Concord, at night, it might 
be difficult for any one to cross the river from Boston to alarm 
the country, as the ferry boats were hauled alongside the man- 
of-war at 9 o'clock. In view of this, Revere says, "I agreed 
with a Colonel Conant and some other gentlemen, that if the 
British went oat by water, we would show two lanterns in the 
North Church Steeple^ and if by land, one, as a signal." 

Mr. Devens, at this time was at Concord, and " in all hu- 
man probability," never knew anything about this agreement 
with Colonel Conant ; and certainly never made any with Re- 
vere on his own account. 

On Sunday night, after he got home, or Monday morning. 
Revere reported to Warren the performance of his commission, 
and made the necessary arrangements for the display of the 
promised signals, should they become necessary. 



12 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

[Monday, April 17.] No further developments or move- 
ments, on the part of Gen. Gage, are reported, although the 
preparations must have been going forward unseen. 

Doings of the Committees. 

At Concord, however, the two committees of Safety and Sup- 
plies, most of whom had remained there over Sunday, (except- 
ing Hancock, who went to Lexington, as usual,) were in ses- 
sion at Mr. Taylor's House. Messrs. Hancock, Devens, Heath, 
White, Palmer, Gardner, Watson, Orne and Pigeon, of the 
Committee of Safety, were present ; and Messrs. Lee, Gill, 
Cheever, Gerry and Lincoln, of the Supplies Committee — four- 
teen in all, and those present proceeded to business before Han- 
cock arrived. They " Voted that the two four-pounders now at 
Concord, be mounted, and that Colonel Barrett be desired to 
raise an Artillery company," &c. and also to " provide an in- 
structor." It was then voted "that when these Committees 
adjourn, it be to Mr. Wetherby's, at the Black Horse, Menot- 
omy, on Wednesday, 10 o'clock." 

After these proceedings undoubtedly, Hancock arrived from 
Lexington, and he at once communicated the message which he 
had received from Dr. Warren — whereupon the meeting took 
very different action from that which they had already adopted. 
It was at once voted, " that the four six pounders be transport- 
ed to Groton, and put under the care of Colonel Prescott." — 
[Col, James Prescott, who was a member of the Provincial 
Congress from Groton.] 

"Voted, That two seven-inch Brass mortars be transported 
to Acton." And then it was " Voted, That the two commit- 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 13 

tees adjourn to Wetherbj's at 10 o'clock." notwithstanding 
the previous vote to adjourn over to Wednesday. 

Meeting at Menotomt. 

" Menotomj, Tuesday, April 18th." The two committees 
met, and twelve of the fourteen members at Concord, were pre- 
sent : Hancock and Gill absent. At this meeting more than 
twenty votes were passed relating to the removal and disposi- 
tion of cannon, ammunition, stores, &c. Part of the provis- 
ions w^ere ordered to be removed from Concord and the vote 
directing powder to be sent from Leicester, to that town, to be 
made into cartridges, was reconsidered. Colonel Barrett was 
directed to bury the musket balls in some safe place, "and let 
the commissary [Pigeon] only be informed thereof." 

As if having some idea of the events to follow. — soon after 
made probable, — the committees adjourned to meet on Wed- 
nesday at Woburn. 

II. THE DEVENS MEMORANDUM. 

Mr. Devens was present at Menotomy, and the "Memoran- 
dum" gives his account of his return to Charlestown, after a 
long absence, having but small knowledge of what was going 
on in Boston, and certainly none whatever concerning the sig- 
nals which Revere had promised and provided for. The fol- 
lowing is the memorandum in full : 

" On the 18th of April, '75, Tuesday, the committee of safe- 
ty, of which I was then a member, and the committee of sup- 
plies, sat at Newell's tavern, at Menotomy. A great number 



14 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

of British officers dined at Cambridge. After we had finished 
the business of the day, we adjourned to meet at Woburn, on 
the morrow, — left to lodge at Newell's, Gerry, Orne and Lee. 
Mr. Watson and myself came off in my chaise at sunset. On 
the road we met a great number of B. 0. and their servants 
on horseback, who had dined that day at Cambridge. We rode 
some way after we met them, and then turned back and rode 
through them, went and informed our friends at Newell's. We 
stopped there till they came up and rode by. We then left 
our friends, and I came home, after leaving Mr. Watson at 
his house. I soon received intelligence from Boston, that 
the enemy were all in motion, and Avere certainly prepar- 
ing to come out into the country. Soon afterward, the signal 
agreed upon Avas given : this was a lanthorn hung out in the 
upper window of the tower of the N. Ch. towards Charles- 
town. I then sent off an express to inform Messrs. Gerry, &c., 
and Messrs. Hancock and A., who I knew were at the Rev. Mr. 

, at Lexington, that the enemy were certainly coming out. 

I kept watch at the ferry to watch for the boats till about elev- 
en o'clock, when Paul Revere came over and informed that the 
T. were actually in the boats. I then took a horse from Mr. 

Larkin's barn, and sent him . I procured a horse and 

sent off P. Revere to give the intelligence at Menotomy and 
Lexington. He was taken by the British officers before men- 
tioned, before he got to Lexington, and detained till near day." 

The reader will notice the loose and irreconcilable character 
of these statements ; the concluding mis-statement, and perceive 
that it is, what it purports to be, a mere memorandum of a 
most indefinite character. Referring to the time of the occur- 
rences described, Mr. Devens says, "I was the7i a member of the 
committee of safety." As he was one of this committee until 
about July 19, the memorandum was not written within three 
months after the events at least. This makes the mistake con- 



PAUL revere' S SIGNAL LANTERNS. 15 

cerning the capture of Revere still more surprising, especially 
as Mr. Devens was at Concord again, according to the date of 
his letter calling congress together, on the 20th, and it would 
seem, must have known what had occurred. 

After he reached home Mr. Devens says, he " soon received 
intelligence from Boston" ; but as Revere brought over the news 
to the party constantly on the watch for it, it is probable that 
Mr. Devens's news came from them. He also speaks of sending 
an express to Menotomy, but did not furnish a horse, and prob- 
ably refers to Revere, as none other has ever been heard of — 
He says, "I procured a horse and sent oif P. Revere," but 
Revere speaks of getting his horse before he met Mr. Devens, 
and probably had the same horse he had used on Sunday. — 
These, however, are not as remarkable as some other statements, 
based on this memorandum, yet to be noticed. 

Mr. Frothingham's Statements. 

Mr. Frothingham says, " The setting of the lanterns Avas cer- 
tainly an interesting incident of that evening ; but the facts 
here stated [ ? ] show that it was not the only warning of the 
march of the British troops, nor was it the earliest warning." 
No facts are stated, and none are known to us, to authorise this 
last statement, so unjust towards that heroic and inde- 
fatigable patriot, Paul Revere, to whom the whole honor of 
the service, (save what Dawes might have done,) belongs. Be- 
yond all question " the setting of the lanterns" was the earliest 
and "only warning of the march of the British troopa,''^ and 
as such, was carried all the way from Boston to Lexington. If 
reference is intended to the express which Mr. Devens says he 



16 PAUL REVERE'S SIGNAL LANTERNS. 

sent to Menotomj, we think no express whatever started ahead 
of Kevere, and if any started after him, which is not very 
likely, as we have said, was never again heard of. 

The next statement is of the same character and no less un- 
true : " Then it was a private signal agreed upon between Paul 
Revere and Richard Devens." We have already annihilated 
this piece of fiction. Mr. Devens himself does not make or au- 
thorise any such statement. The agreement Avas solely with 
Colonel Conant and his friends, and Mr. Devens knew nothing 
whatever about it. 

Mr. Frothingham makes another remarkable statement : — 
•' Meantime Devens at the ferry saw the signals f^ but Mr. 
Devens himself is very careful not to say that he saw the 
signals, and it is very certain there is no other authority for the 
statement. 

Mr. Frothingham makes some further statements, as follows : 
" I have no doubt that the lights of the lanterns * * were 
seen by persons standing on the Charlestown side. The testi- 
mony to the fact is of a remarkable character. The earliest is 
that of Richard Devens. Paul Revere, in all human probabil- 
ity never heard of it." We think not. 

These statements, like some others already quoted, are "of a 
remarkable character," to speak mildly of them. No doubt 
" the lights of the lanterns" were seen ; that is what they were 
put up for, and the remarkable character of the testimony is 
that no man tells us he saw them. The only direct evidence 
of the fact, earliest and latest, is found in the statement of Paul 
Revere, Avho says, when he ' • met Colonel Conant and several 
others, they said they had seen our signals. ^^ They told him 



PAUL revere' S SIGNAL LANTERNS. 17 

they had seen the lights and he repeats the statement. This is 
all that has reached us. Revere does not say that he saw them, 
and Mr. Deven,5 simply says, " the signal * * was given." 
If he had seen it, undoubtedly he would have said so. 

We have thus seen where Mr. Devens was and how enorao-ed 
until late in the evening of the 18th ; Avho arranged for the sig- 
nals, and why he proposed them ; who saw and reported to him 
that they had seen them ; what probable mistakes Mr. Dev- 
ens made; what erroneous statements Mr. Frothingham makes, 
and have shown that the memorandum, as matter of history, 
is of small account. Mr. Devens wrote it a long time after 
the events mentioned, from what he heard and remembered, — 
not very carefully, we think, — and it is not to be regard - 
ed as of prior authority. The statements founded upon it, 
of which we have spoken, are not only wrong and unjust to- 
wards Paul Revere and Dr. Warren, but almost equally so to 
Mr. Devens, Avho was engaged on important public business 
at Concord and Menotomy, and did not know what was going 
forward in Boston, on the 18th, until he heard the news brought 
over by Paul Revere. But how such an indefinite paper, Avith- 
out either date or signature, can be exalted to the posi- 
tion so persistently claimed for it, — and assertions made on 
its omissions, — we are unable to see. The globose statement 
that Paul Revere never heard of this flimous memorandum, is 
entirely gratuitous, and of no possible consequence to him or to 
the history of the event. The interesting question, as to the 
place where the lights were shown, is not in any degree aifect- 
ed by the memorandum or the statements purporting to be 
based upon it. 



18 TAUL revere' S SIGNAL LANTERNS. 



III. PAUL REVERE' S NARRATIVE. 

This important personal narration of the events preceding 
and relating to the naarch of the British troops to Concord, is 
held to be a second authority, subordinate to the memorandum 
which we have disposed of But in no sense is the memorandum 
of equal authority with the narrative of Paul Revere, which 
stands alone as the authentic history of the events of the period. 
Without this, and on the Devens memorandum only, Dr. War- 
ren's presence would not appear ; the launching of boats and 
movement of troops not known ; no message sent to Hancock 
and Adams on Sunday ; no signals proposed or agreed upon, and 
if seen, not understood ; no movement known until Revere 
arrived and " informed that the T. were actually in the boats," 
when Mr. Devens appears and adds the climax, "I procured a 
horse and sent off P. Revere to give intelligence at Menotomy 
and Lexington."* This would be the history as authorized by the 
memorandum, if that were 'prior authority;' essentially inconir 
plete and untruthful, with its real actors, — Warren, Revere, 
Dawes, Conant and others, — wholly ignored excepting Revere, 
who is made the messenger of the author of the memorandum. 
Warren, who had absented himself from Congress to Avatch the 
movements of Gen. Gage, and who prompted all that was done 
to warn and alarm the country in this crisis, and was killed be- 
fore the memorandum was written, would not appear in the his- 
tory at all. The truth is Revere's narrative, instead of being 

/ 

* " I told them wliat was acting, and went to get me a hor.se."' [Revere. 



PAUL REVBRE'S signal LANTERNS. 19 

a second authority, is in fact, the only authority ; furnishes the 
whole history, and is the means of securing to Warren the 
honor that belongs exclusively to him. and which his biographer 
has allowed another person partially to appropriate to himself. 
It may be true that Mr. Devens, who makes no allusion to Dr. 
Warren, in the matter, "knew what he was talking about" in 
his account of the British officers, seen on the road ; but it is 
pretty clear, we think, that this compliment must be denied, 
when he speaks of sending Paul Revere to Menotomy and Lex- 
ington, as his messenger, and of his seizure. 

Second Message to Lexington. 

On Tuesday evening, 18th, (while Mr. Devens was riding 
from Menotomy to his home in Charlestown) at near 10 o'clock, 
Dr. Warren, having discovered the purpose of Gen. Gage, sent 
"in great haste,^^ Revere says, "for me, and begged that 
I would immediately set off for Lexington." He went at 
once and directed the placing of the lanterns in the steeple ; 
supplied himself with coat and boots ; took his boat which he 
kept at the north end, and two men rowed him over to Charles- 
town. He then says — 

" They landed me on the Charlestown side. When I got in- 
to town, I met Colonel Conant and several others ; they said 
THEY had seen OUR SIGNALS. I told them what was acting, 
and iDCiit to get me a horse. I got a horse of Deacon Lar- 
k'my While he " went to get a horse," the news reached Mr. 
Devens, who is now for the first time mentioned by Revere. 

Meeting with Mr. Devens. 
"While the horse was preparing," says Revere, "Richard 
Devens, who was one of the Committee of Safety, ca7ne to me 



20 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

cmd told me that he came down the road from Lexington after 
sundown that evening ; that he met ten British oflBcers all well 
mounted and armed, going up the road." 

This appears to be all that Revere and Devens had to do with 
each other, somewhat differently related, and not only sets at 
naught the wholly unfounded assertion that the lanterns were 
"a private signal agreed upon between Paul Revere and Rich- 
ard Devens," but corrects some other statements in the memo- 
randum, and shows that the signal lanterns, in conception and 
arrangement, were exclusively the work of Paul Revere. 

The points of Revere's narrative concerning the signals, are 

1 , his proposition and promise to Col. Conant to make them ; 

2, the place where he would make them, and 3d, that they 
were seen by those for whose information they were in- 
tended : all these points rest exclusively, as we have seen, upon 
his testimony. There is no conflict of evidence in regard to 
them ; no question of their truthfulness ; no other account of 
the events described, and that is undoubtedly the reason of his 
writing the narrative when he did, for the historical society. 
Revere was the only person, excepting those employed by him, 
who knew of his arrangements or could give any account of 
them. The narrative was printed in 1798, while he held the 
position of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, which was held 
by Warren when Revere was his messenger. 

Not a word, we think, is to be added to this history, and 
that which has been added to it is not true. We have evidence 
that the signals were made as promised, and were seen, and the 
purpose of them, if anything had happened to Revere, would 
have been acsotaplished through their instrumentality. 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 21 



IV. THE NORTH CHURCHES. 

There were during the period referred to in this history- 
four churches, or meeting-houses, at the North End, which 
were respectively called, or spoken of and known, at some 
time, as the North Church, the new North Church, or the old 
North Church, namely : 

1. The first of these in the order of time, was established in 
1648, as the Second Church= This Avas on North Square ; 
was burnt in 1676 ; rebuilt in 1677, of wood, and was des- 
troyed by the British soldiers, by order of General Howe, in 
1775-6, and was not rebuilt.* This was known as the North 
Church in 1722 and 1732, and later than this, " the old North 
Church." After its destruction, the society in 1779, went to 
the New Brick, with their pastor, Dr. Lathrop, in Hanover street, 
(then Middle street), and the two formed one society. As Dr. 
Lathrop' s was the senior society, or perhaps the largest society, 
they retained their designation as the Second Church and pre- 
served the name of "the Old North Church," and thus absorb- 
ed the New Brick. 



* December 14, 1775, Genei'al Howe ordered the troops to take down the 
old north meeting-house for the lumber [to build barracks] , and a hundred 
old wooden dwelling-houses and other buildings for fuel." 

1776, January 16. The Old North Meeting-house pulled down by order 
of General Howe, for fuel for refugees and tories. — [Newell's Journal. 

In both these quotations it is called " the old north meeting-house," and we 
think was very seldom called simply " the north church. " 



22 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

2. The New Korth Church, 1714. This was on the corner 
of North and Clark streets, — a house of small dimensions, — 
Rev. John Webb, pastor ; taken down in 1802, and rebuilt as 
now. Peter Thatcher was settled here as colleague with Mr. 
Webb, in 1720, and this produced a dissension which resulted 
in the building of the New Brick Church. Strictly speaking 
this was never called the North Church, but was known as the 
New North Church, and scarcely needs to be mentioned in this 
connection on account of its location. 

3. The New Brick Church was finished for dedication, May, 
1721. It was located on Middle street, and in 1779, four 
years after Revere's great exploit of April, 1775, was absorb- 
ed by " the Old North Church," taking its pastor, its rank 
and its name. [Paul Revere was a member of the New Brick 
Church in 1763, and of course of the Old North Church, by 
the union of 1779 ; but never was a member of the society in 
North Square.] In October, 1779, it was invited to the ordi- 
nation of Rev. Mr. Eckley, as '•'the north churchy under the 
pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Lathrop"'; and at a later period, a 
sermon bears the imprint " By John Lathrop, D. D., pastor of 
the Old North ChurchP So the fact cannot be questioned 
that after the union in 1779, the New Brick church became 
the Old North church ; but was never so called when Revere 
caused his lanterns to be shown in the North Church Steeple. 

4. Christ Church, in Salem street, was formed in 1722. — 
This church was called " the North Church" very naturally by 
the denomination to which it belonged ; and this title came to 
be recognized very generally by the public, a large part of the 



PAUL REVERE's signal LANTERNS. 23 

people at this time, rigidly discriminating between a church and 
a meeting-house. It was spoken of as the " North or Christ 
church," in 1723. In 1768, Rev, John Graves, of Providence, 
wrote of it as " the North Church in Boston, where the late 
Dr. Cutler was their long and faithful pastor." Mr. Wm. H. 
Montague, still living in Boston, whose father was pastor of the 
church in 1792 and previously, says "I have always heard my 
father call the Episcopal Church in Salem street, the North 
Church." Mr. Abbott Lawrence, in a letter before us, dated 
August, 1846, expresses the " reverence he entertains for that 
good old structure ' the North Church,' as it was called when I 
was a boy." But there is no need of multiplying evidence on 
this point, which is not now disputed. It is beyond a doubt 
that at the time of the lanterns, Christ Church was generally 
spoken of and known as the North Church, but not as the old 
North Church, a phrase which belonged exclusively for many 
years to the old meeting-house in North Square, and afterwards 
to the New Brick church. 

In the steeple of one of these churches, it is certain, the sig- 
nal lanterns ordered by Revere, were shoAvn ; and it so happens 
that "the old North meeting-house," in which some persons 
believe the lanterns were displayed, was the only church of the 
four that was without a steeple, a fact which seems not hereto- 
fore to have been allowed its proper weight. 



24 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 



V. THE QUESTION CONSIDERED. 

The " Second, or Old North Church," meaning the old 
meating-house, in North Square, not only never had a stee- 
ple, but from its location and want of height, was in no 
respect adapted for the purpose in view. The principal 
reason now, or ever offered, for supposing that the belfry of this 
meeting-house was used by Revere, is that it was known at the 
time as "the North Church;" generally, however, with the 
prefix old, as in the contemporary quotations and in Gen. 
Howe's orders " to take down the old north meeting-house." 
Excepting the force of this construction there is not a word that 
refers to this church, either contemporary or traditionary, and 
on this slender basis the claim in its behalf has been set up. 
Paul Revere does not say " the old North church," but the 
^'' North Church Steeple,''^ and if anybody in America, at 
that time, knew what a "steeple" was, and would not confound 
it with "tower" or "belfry," that man was Paul Revere. — 
When he said "North Church Steeple,''^ therefore, it is certain 
that he did not mean the " Old North meeting-house" belfry ; 
and this view would seem to be decisive of the question. 

Revere's View of Boston. 

Now it so happens that, in ITT-t, Paul Revere engraved for 
the Royal American Magazine, for January, " A View of the 
town of Boston, with several ships of war in the harbor," and 
in this engraving the belfry of the Old North meeting-house, 



PAUL RE verb's SIGNAL LANTERNS. 25 

tlie towering steeple of the North cliurch, and the lesser steeples 
of the New North and the New Brick, are all shown : their 
location, relations to each other, and their adaptation in these 
respects to the purpose which Revere had to accomplis)', will 
be readily seen and understood. No man knew better than Re- 
vere did the object in view, and to suppose that he would take 
a wholly inferior means — the least conspicuous of the four — 
when the best possible place for his purpose was open to him, is 
neither reasonable or probable, or consistent with the character 
of the man. We think it absolutely certain, therefore, that the 
belfry of the North Square meeting-house, was not the place 
used by Paul Revere for his signal lanterns, but the steeple 
of the Salem street church, Avhich was by far the most eligible 
for his purpose, and remains so to this day. 

British Troops in North Square, 

In addition to this it is very positively stated that the lan- 
terns could not have been shown from the " old North meeting- 
house," for the i-eason that British troops were stationed in 
North Square at the time, and the act would have been seen at 
once and the party arrested. If this statement be correct, — 
and there might have been a small guard there as in other parts 
of the town, — the fact goes very strongly to confirm the con- 
clusion already expressed.* 



* We think there is no definitive mention of British troops in North square 
at the time referred to. According to Col. Wm. Heath there were in Boston, 
on the 20th of March, 1775, 2,850 troops, disposed as follows : on the Com- 
mon, 1,703 ; at Castle William, 330 ; on Fort Hill, 400 ; at the Neck, 340 ; 
in King [State] street, 8'). In .June following there were over ten thousand 
troops in the town. 



26 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

Dismissal of Rev. Dr. Byles. 

It ha? been suggested that the Salem street church, being 
Episcopalian, was under English or tory influence, and could 
not be had for Revere's purpose. There is abundant evidence 
that this was not the case in addition to the fact of the dismis- 
sal of their high tory pastor, when, as he wrote to a friend 
afterwards, much '"implacable temper was exhibited." He was 
dismissed on the very day on which the signals were displayed 
in the evening, and as only a few families continued in the 
town, the church was closed until after the evacuation. He 
says, in a letter dated October 7, 1775, " I still offered to offici- 
ate to them so long as I continued in Boston, but they treated 
my kind proposal with neglect. They chose rather to shut up 
the church, nor has it since been opened for a single Sunday. 
Indeed it is now scarce worth while to attempt it — most of 
them having left town — not more than six or seven families 
remaining." [The tory families remained in town, and finally 
went to Halifax.] Dr. Byles says, " Though shut out from my 
own church, I frequently assist at the other churches of tlie 
town, and there are several large hospitals of the sick and 
wounded, which I visit every week." These were British hos- 
pitals in Boston. A national patriotic prayer was adopted by 
the same parishoners when they returned to town and the 
church was again opened. 

New Brick Church Steeple. 

In looking upon the engraving of Paul Revere, it will be 
seen how little available for his purpose was the steeple of the 
New Brick church, which some persons believe was the steo- 
l)lc used by him, and which in 1789, was his church, and of 



PAUL RBVERB'S signal LANTERNS. 27 

which he was for years afterwards an active member : for 
wherever he was, he was active and prominent. This church, 
as we have seen, had become the Second church, and in virtue 
of this union, "the Old North church," and was so known 
when Revere's narrative was printed. It had a steeple which 
was superior for his purpose to the North Square belfry ; but 
at the time the lanterns were displayed, it had no claim what- 
ever to the name of North church, while the Episcopal ct^rch. 
in Salem street, was always known by the Episcopalians as 
the North church, and among all the other denominations, 
this name was more or less common. It was the only avail- 
able church with a steeple, that could have been in 1775, de- 
signated as the North church, and if Revere wrote correctly 
as to what he said to Col. Conant, the conclusion is inevitable 
that it was in the steeple of this church, and not in that of the 
New Brick, that the lanterns were displayed. 

Ajrain, if Paul Revere in writino; his narrative, meant to 
designate the New Brick church, then the Old North church, 
as he very well knew, he would not have used the expression 
"north church steeple'' at all, but would have said the "old 
north church," the " old north meeting house," or the old north 
belfry, tlie word steeple being entirely superfluous. The word 
"tower," used by Mr. Devens, and the word "belfry," by a 
modern writer, or the phrase " belfry-tower," used by the poet, 
can have no effect upon the accuracy of Revere's language, 
whether used as the equivalent of steeple or not. 

In short, there is no reason to question the correctness of 
Paul Revere's narrative or the accuracy of his language ; and ' 
as we have shown, there is no other authority in the matter. 



28 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

His statement we repeat as follows : "I agreed with a Colo- 
nel Conant and other gentlemen, that if the British went out by 
water we would show two lanterns hi the North Church stee- 
ple ; and if by land, one, as a signal : for we were apprehen- 
sive it would be difficult to cross the Charles River or get over 
Boston Neck." He said "in the North church steeple," and 
the words cannot be made to mean a meeting-house without a 
steepLe, or a steeple on some other church not suitable for his 
purpose. He states that Warren, when he sent for him, know- 
ing of the movement of Gen. Gage, had already sent a messen- 
ger to Lexington, over the neck He then relates how he got 
across the river, and was told that his lanterns had been seen ; 
how he procured a horse, as he had done on Sunday, and pro- 
ceeded on his "Midnight Ride,"* so that his arrangement with 
Col. Conant, was completely carried out ; and, as we have 
said, the object of the signal lanterns would have been accoiii- 



* We hxve not daeiiiel it neiessary to refer spsoially to the historical in- 
accuracies of the poet in describing Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. It is ap- 
parent, from what has been said, that the signal lights were not made for 
Paul Revere's information, but for Col. Couant and other gentlemen, (Mr. 
Devens included,) in case he should not be able to get across the river and 
spread tlie alarm himself : of course, then, the description of his standing on 
the opposite shore, " impatient to mount and ride,'" watching 

" with eager search 

"The belfry-tower of the old North c'lurch," 

is simply poetry and not history. It is generally known, also, that Revere, 
after leaving Lexington, was seized and brought back without reaching Con- 
cord, and of course the lines — 

" It was two by the village clock 

"When he came to the bridge in Concord town," 

are the coinage of the poet. The alarm was given in Concord by Dr. I'res- 
cott, who had rather overstaid the evening with his lady-love, at Lexington ; 
and this might have furnished an apt episode for the poet. 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 29 

plished had he been arrested or otherwise prevented from cross- 
ing; the river that ni^rht. 

The phrase "hung out," is used in speaking of Revere's sig- 
nal lanterns as a common form of expression, but in this case 
without authority. They were undoubtedly "shown," as Re- 
vere ao;reed, and not hunn; at all. Mr, Newman had no means 
of hanojino; them, and no doubt held them in his hands with 
out-stretched arms, for a few minutes only, scarcely, if at all, 
outside the wall of the steeple — so that it is certain Col. 
Conant and his friends must have been looking for them, and 
knowing the location of the North church, knew precisely where 
to look. They were probably shown while Revere was crossing 
the river below the ferry, which would bring the top of Snow 
Hill between him and the steeple ; or they may have been dis- 
played while he was getting his boots and finding his men. The 
fact that they were so promptly shown proves that they had been 
previously provided for and access to the church secured with- 
out seeking the sexton at that time of night for the keys. We 
very much doubt also if anybody else, other than those on the 
watch at Charlestown, saw the lanterns at all, and it remains to 
b3 discovered how Gen. Gage, or the British authorities, knew 
of them, if, in fact, they did know of them when they were 
shown. Stedman, the English historian, makes no allusion to 
them ; Gordon does not mention them, but says, " When the 
corps was nearly ready to proceed on the expedition. Dr. War- 
ren, by a mere accident, had notice of it just in time to send 
messengers over the neck and across the ferry to Lexington, be- 
fore the orders for preventing every person's quitting the town 
were executed." Neither of these authors mentions any pro- 



30 PAUL REVEllli's SIGNAL LANTERNb. 

ceedings in consequence of the display of the lanterns, as both 
uoukl have done had any taken place in the town. Newell, in 
his Diary, does not mention anything about the lanterns or sig- 
nal of any kind ; and Andrews, in his letters, simply says, the 
"men appointed to alarm the country upon such occasions got 
over by stealth as early as they could and took different routes." 
Each of these writers gives the particulars of whatever occurred 
in the town, and the slightest occurrences did not escape their 
notice. It seems almost impossible that the British could have 
taken any notice of the affair Avithout the knowledge of these 
writers, or without mention of it by Gen. Gage himself in some 
of his letters. 

In Conclusion. 

Whoever inclines to take the trouble to repeat Col. Conant's 
observation from the end of the present old bridge, near where 
the ferry was. on the Charlestovvn shore of the river, will not 
be likely to doabt for a moment, that the lanterns were shown 
from the North [Christ] Church steeple. Or let any per- 
son look from almost any elevated position in Boston, sufficient- 
ly commanding for the purpose, as from the State House, City 
Hall, or the Life Insurance Company's building, in Liberty 
Square, or better still, from the North Church steeple, and he 
will be satisfied of the same tiling. There was not then any 
other place from which they could have been effectively shown, 
nor is there so secure and eligible a place for the same purpose 
within the limits of the city today. 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 31 



VI. TRADITIONARY HISTORY. 

Mr. Frot.hingham has no doubt that the " lights of the lan- 
terns * * were seen by persons standing on the Charlestown 
side of the ferry" ; " the testimony to the fact is of a remarka- 
ble character;" " the earliest is that of Richard Devens;" Paul 
Revere, "in his letter printed in 1798, mentioned the same fact; 
both agree substantially;" and the writer adds to these curious 
assertions this remark: "This constitutes historical evidence of 
a very high character. Tradition cannot stand against it." 

There is nothing in these statements for tradition to stand 
against ; to prove or disprove. They indicate that the lanterns 
were shown and were seen, and beyond this they are of no par- 
ticular account. Revere said he would show, in one event, 
"two lanterns in the North Church steeple^'' and did so. Mr. 
Devens says the signal was given, " a lanthorn hung out in the 
upper Avindow of the tower of the N. Oh. towards Charlestown." 
Here we have a difference of statement: "Two lanterns" vs. "a 
lanthorn," "steeple" vs. "tower." One of them knew what he 
was saying ; the other repeated what he had heard. Revere 
does not say he saw them ; Devens does not say he saw it. — 
Revere's statement that when he "met Col. Conant and several 
others, they said they had seen our signal," is prior and posi- 
tive evidence, as absolute as if Col. Conant had personally 
testified to the same fact. All other particulars depend upon 
tradition and inference. 

What, then, is the tradition, or what is there for tradition to 
stand against ? The tradition is that when Revere left Dr. 



32 PAUL revere's sigxal lanterns. 

Warren, he at once called upon his friend, Robert Newman, 
sexton of the North church, and " desired him to make the sig- 
nals," as had been previously arranged, from the steeple. 
This statement, as far as the "steeple" and the "friend" of Re- 
ever are concerned, includes all there is of tradition, touching 
the showing of the signal lanterns; and this tradition, supported 
by and confirming the narrative of Paul Revere, after having 
been received, accepted and talked about, as veritable history, 
for a hundred years, has recently for the first time, we believe, 
been called in question and disputed in its most essential partic- 
ulars. One of these, the question as to the church from the 
steeple of which the lanterns were shown, we presume, may be 
considered as determined, not merely by the action of the city 
government in the premises, but by a fair and reasonable inter- 
pretation of the language used by Paul Revere, and for other 
reasons which have been stated — all of which will be still fur- 
ther verified by the traditionary testimony which we propose to 
present. Possibly it may be found that the traditionary testi- 
mony is the strongest in the case, and is pretty much all one 
way, and that there is nothing for it to stand against. 

Tradition, reasonably related, concerning events in times of 
secrecy and peril, is not to be slightly disregarded ; much of 
history may depend upon it or be confirmed and supported by it. 
The period of which we are speaking is not so very remote, and 
tradition comes down to us through a single generation : men of 
most respectable character are living today who knew Paul Re- 
vere and Robert Newman, and have willingly testified of their 
information on this subject. These men, when boys, used to 
play together in Robert Newman's yard, on the corner of 
Sheafe and Salem streets ; and their uniform testimony is, that 



PAUL REVERE's signal LANTERNS. 33 

they lived at the North End, seventy or eighty years ago, and 
that they always heard and understood that the signal lanterns 
of Paul Revere were shown in the steeple of Christ Church, 
by Robert Newman, the sexton. This story was common with 
them and they never heard it contradicted. They never heard 
the names of any other persons, or any other church, mentioned 
in connection with the transaction, while the subject must have 
been a matter of frequent conversation in their presence and 
among themselves, during many years. We prefer, however, 
to state this matter more particularly in the language of the 
gentlemen referred to. 

The Newman Family. 

Robert Newman, the sexton, was the youngest son of Tho- 
mas Newman, a merchant and importer of Boston, who, becom- 
ing unfortunate in business, apprenticed his two younger sons, 
John and Robert, to trades, and when older they both became 
enrolled in the band of North End mechanics. John, who had 
a great love for music, became organist of Christ Church, and 
Robert, when the times became hard, took the position of sex- 
ton, which he retained during his life time. His youngest son 
being named after the Rector, Rev. Samuel Haskell, he desired 
to adopt the child when the father died. They were both 
freemasons, and after the war, Robert was an oJBEicer in Saint 
John's Lodge, and stood well with the prominent members of 
the fraternity, one of whom, Henry Fowle, became the guardian 
of his children. Revere and the Newmans were pupils in 
Master Tileston's school : playmates when boys, mechanics and 
patriots when men. Another brother, Thomas, was a manu- 
facturer in England, and missed a fortune from his relative, Sir 



34 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

Thomas Churclmiaii, for avIioiu lie was named, on account of his 
adherence to the cause of his native land. Some of his letters 
exhibit very forcibly the strength of his convictions. In Jan- 
uary, 1784, he wrote to his two brothers as follows, '• After a 
silence of many years, (occasioned by the rash, violent and 
inhuman measures of a late execrable administration,) I take 
the earliest opportunity to congratulate you on the return of 
peace, and above all, the freedom and independence of my native 
and injured country. A nobler cause than that which has 
drawn the sword and fired the indignation of every worthy son 
of America, is not to be found in the annals of the world ; a 
cause that has been supported with a degree of firmness, valor, 
judgment, spirit and perseverance almost without example ; a 
cause involving the common rights of mankind, and the success 
of which has occasioned inexpressible pleasure and heartfelt joy 
in every free state upon earth." In another letter he says, 
" your sentiments and mine respecting the American war are 
exactly the same ; it was an infamous measure and has liber- 
ated the country it was intended to enslave." In a previous 
letter he speaks of the execrable war, and says Hancock and 
Adams will be remembered after the British administration is 
forgotten. There was no toryism in the family. 

Traditionary Testimony. 

Mr. Joshua B. Fowle, of Lexington, under date of July 28, 
1875, writes to Mr. Samuel H. Newman, son of the sexton, 
and says, " I have examined ray memory and old records. There 
is no dispute, or ought not to be, in regard to the display of 
the lights at the North church by vour father. The Seven 
Bells church was always called by that name ; the others were 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 35 

always called mseting-house^., old Puritanic names, and by no 
other. I knew in ray young diys miny of the prominent men 
who took an active part in the doings of those days. Paul Re- 
vere lived near me. I have heard it told over many times and 
never doubted. Any man is beside himself to entertain a 
doubt. I knew Henry Parkett, Major Melville, and others of 
the Tea party, besides Revere. It was common talk at my 
father's, where they often met, although I can call to mind they 
were careful of calling names, having some fear of liability, 
which I a boy thought was impressed on them by the scenes 
they had passed through." 

In August, 1876, the same gentleman addressed a second 
letter to Mr. Newman, and says, " It has always been known 
to North End boys that Robert Newman was the man. * * 
I knew Col. May, Capt. Green, Major Melville, Capt. Purkett, 
and first on the list Paul Revere — ^a near neighbor to me — as 
likewise Robert Newman. * * Mr. Newman, as well as 
Paul Revere, was educated at Mr. Tileston's school, and like 
Revere, was a mechanic. * * Mr. Newman was a man of 
few words, but prompt and active, capable of doing whatever 
Paul Revere wished to have done, and all these gentlemen men- 
tioned knew of the act of Mr. Newman's displaying the lan- 
terns, and if it were not so, they were the men to say so." 

A letter from Jeremiah Loring, ninety-one years of age, 
dated Chelsea, October, 1876, says he was born in Hull, and 
resided in Boston 85 years, " heard in his youth the story of the 
signal lanterns hung in the tower of Christ Church, by Robert 
Newman, on the night of April 18th, 1775, from people who 
were living at the time of the occurrence, and among whom I 



36 PAUL reveke's signal lanterns. 

never knew the truthfulness of the statement to be questioned. 
Robert Newman was personally known to me." 

Messrs. Isaac II. Carey, Wm. L. Learned, Thomas Mair, 
Noah Lincoln, and William Parkman, all old residents of Bos- 
ton, testify to the same general statement regarding the place 
and the person. Mr. Parkman says, he '" often heard the story 
in his boyhood, and never heard the truthfulness of the state- 
ment questioned until within a week or two past." 

Mr. John N. Barbour, of Boston, writes as follows : "In my 
early days I was deeply interested in the history of Christ 
Church. My grand parents occupied the house in Prince street, 
in which my father and myself were born and lived very many 
years. * * We boys always understood, in fact never heard 
to the contrary, that your father. Robert Newman, who lived at 
the corner of Sheafe and Salem streets, and in whose yard we 
so often enjoyed our youthful sports, hung up the signal 
lanterns giving information of the movements of our British 
enemies." 

Mrs. Mary B. Swift, a resident when young at the north 
end of Boston, and now dwelling in Bowdoin Square, at the age 
of 84, a grand-daughter of Col. Conant, testifies that " when she 
was a young lady it was a frequent remark that the signal lan- 
terns were hung immediately before the march to Lexington, by 
Mr. Newman, then se.\;ton of Christ church, in its steeple, and 
that she never throughout her life, has heard it questioned until 
about a year since." 

Mr. Mathew Binney, under date of Sept. 26, 1876, says, " I 
have always claimed to be a North End boy, born October 8, 
1803 My home for the first twenty years of my life was the 



PAUL REVERE's signal LANTERNS. 87 

estate owned by my father on the north side of what was tlien 
Nos. 5 and 7, Salem Place, since widened and called Cooper 
street. I have often heard in my younger days of the signal 
lanterns having been hung in the steeple of the Old North 
church, in Salem street, (or otherwise called Christ Church,) 
giving information of the British movement in 1775. I have 
always heard that they were hung by one Robert Newman." 

The Hon Francis Brinley, formerly of Boston, in a letter 
dated Newport, Nov. 22, 1S77, addressed to Mr. Geo. Mount- 
fort, says, '' My grandfather attended Christ Church, * * 
and I lived as you know, within sound of the chime of bells. 
I frequently heard the history of the church spoken of by the 
senior members of the family, and have always believed that 
the signals were hung on the spire of the church, as the most 
conspicuous locality. I mean, of course, Christ church, in 
Salem street.'' 

In a second letter on this subject, Dec. 21st, Mr. Brinley 
says — "My earliest recollections are of my childhood in 
my father's house on the northerly corner of Prince street, op- 
etiing into Hanover street. The house was attractive especially 
as to the somewhat ornate carving and arrangements of the 
interior. There was a small garden in front on Prince street : 
it has disappeared, and the house is almost obliterated. I 
speak of the premises as I last saw them, several years ago." 
" My grandfather, Edward Brinley, and grandmother, were 
part of our' family. He was educated an Episcopalian, and 
worshipped at Christ Church, when the Rev. Mr. Walter was 
Rector, who was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Eaton, the projector 
of the ' Salem Street Academy,' of which he was principal, and 



38 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

the late Judge Willard Phillips his assistant. Of this school I 
was a pupil. 

" Now, I recall three matters which were often spoken of in 
the family, connected with the church, which kindled my youth- 
ful imao-ination : one. the delicious Chime of Bells ; another 
was the mad project of some aspiring man who proposed to 
fasten one end of a rope to the spire of the church and the other 
at a corner of Prince and Back streets, down which rope he 
was to slide upon a board ; the third was the signal lights which 
were hung on the church just before the hostile meetings at 
Lexington and Concord. 

" As my grandfather was a Tory, he naturally adverted to 
this subject. ' Christ church'' was sometimes called ' North 
church,^ even in those days. The other places of worship were 
called ' meeting-houses.' I have from boyhood believed these 
lanterns were suspended from Christ church : it was the near- 
est lofty edifice to Charlestown, and therefore most likely to be 
selected ; it was also the most northerly, and therefore was 
occasionally spoken of as the North churchP 

Miss Maria Green, living in Weston, born in 1793, is a 
daughter of William Green, who lived in Boston, near the 
North Church, where also her grand parents resided. She 
heard nu ny times from her mother the story of the lanterns, 
and says. " I distinctly remember that she said her father, Capt. 
Thomas Barnard, was eno;ao;ed on that nii!i;ht in watching the 
movements of the troops in order to obtain for Robert Newman 
the necessary information concerning their departure. Our fam- 
ily were familiar with the story of hanging out the lanterns 
owing to tlie connection of Capt. Barnard with it, and we never 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 39 

heard the act ascribed to any other person than Robert New- 
man, or to any other place than Christ Church.'''' Mr. Green, 
a brother of the lady above mentioned, who died recently in 
Boston, is known to have made a similar statement. 

Mr. Montague, son of the Rector of that name, (who is now 
living in the Home for Aged Men, in Boston,) has heard his 
father say that the lanterns which gave warning on the 18th of 
April, 1775, were hung in Christ Church. 

Thus we have given, as briefly as possible, the traditionary 
testimony concerning Paul Revere's signal lanterns,- the place 
where they were shown and by whom displayed — and we may 
well ask, if such testimony, to which much more may be added, 
can be reasonably or safely rejected ? This evidence, full and 
complete as it is, is all in one direction ; supports and is sup- 
ported by the account of the occurrences referred to as written 
by Paul Revere and printed in 1798 : The testimony of Mrs. 
Swift, grand-daughter of Col. Conant, confirms the arrange- 
ment made with him, and that of Maria Green, grand-daughter 
of Capt. Barnard, that made with Mr. Newman ; and all this, 
uniform and conclusive as it certainly is, while there is not the 
slightest authority, record or tradition, in support of the North 
square meeting house, as the place where the lanterns were 
shown ; nor the merest record or tradition, excepting that of the 
Pulling family, (which remains to be considered,) but that 
which, coming from ten or twelve different families, points 
directly to Mr. Robert Newman, the sexton, as the friend of 
Paul Revere, who displayed them. 



40 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 



Vri. THE PULLING TRADITION. 

In July, 1876, in consequence of some statements made at 
the Centennial celebration of the 18tli of April, at Christ 
Church, Rev. John Lee Watson, of New Jersey, published a 
paper entitled, " the True Story of the Signal Lanterns in 
Christ Church. Boston." It was then deemed to be a very bold 
announcement, and it is now seen that the whole relation, like 
its title, is remarkably pretentious and dogmatic. The writer 
hardly recognizes the fact that there is such a thing as adverse 
evidence to his statement, and in various other ways shows his 
want of kno^Yledge on the subject upon which he presumes to 
write so positively. In the fourth line of his paper he speaks 
of " the signal lanterns which directed the movements of Paul 
Revere on that night," when the fact is just the opposite of this 
statement. Paul Revere did not need signal lights to direct 
his movements : he directed the signal lights for the informa- 
tion of others, in case he should be interrupted or seized : any 
other statement is a perversion of the truth. 

The exclusive object of this somewhat remarkable paper is to 
claim for John Pulling, who it seems was a relative of the wri- 
ter, the honor of having put up the lanterns, as against the 
claim of Robert Newman. Speaking of Newman's claim, he 
says, " knowing that this statement could not be correct," &c., 
and '•'• believing the honor belonged rightfully to a member of 
our family," &c., he asked the Rev. Dr. Burroughs for a state- 
ment of the evidence in favor of Mr. Newman. After giving a 
brief outline of the evidence furnished to him, and naming some 



PiUL rsv^ere's SIG^TAL lanternts. 41 

of the parties, he says, " this is all, and I have no occasion to 
make any remark upoa their evidence." Thus ignoring with- 
out further remark, the accepted history of a hundred years. 

He then proceeds to tell his own story, with the same degree 
of assurance, and in considerable detail, " derived," as he says, 
"principally from the letters of my kinswoman, the grand- 
daughter of John Pulling," recently written, of course, and 
wholly traditionary. Her statem?nts from memory are the 
basis of Mr. Watson's ■' knowing;" against which similar tes- 
timony from all the north end, as it were, is of no account : he 
knows everybody else is wrong because she told him ! Yet 
she never heard the name of Mr. Newman before, and of course 
never could have heard the story before, as told at the-north 
end, where it occurred. Mr. Fowle and others say they never 
heard of Mr. Pulling before, and Mr. F. says " it was well 
known at the north end that Robert Newman was the man." 

Mr. Pulling, Mr. Watson states, was a vestryman,* and a 
friend of Paul Revere, and adds " they were both also the asso- 
ciates of Hancock, Warren, Adams, and other leading patriots." 
We discredit this last statement entirely, and do not hesi- 
tate to express the opinion that it is not correct. Paul Revere 
was employed by Dr. Warren and the patriots ; was eminently 
useful to them, and his associates at this time, were the North 
end mechanics ; but we do not recognize Mr. Pulling's name in 
connection with either party at this time, and certain it is that 
he was in no proper sense the associate of Hancock and Adams, 
or, we think, of Paul Revere and the North End mechanics. — 



* Joha Palling, .Jr. was a vestryman in 1769, after his father, who died in 
1771, aged 71. The son was born in February ]7oG, and died " soon after the 
siege was raised," and of course was not in the war which followed. 



42 PAUL kevere's signal lanterns. 

Mr. Watson also assumes that John Pulling was one of the 
" thirty, chiefly mechanics," who held their secret meetings at 
the Green Dragon ; or, • if not so, thiit he was one of those to 
whom their secrets might be divulged; these last, he says, were 
•' the committee chosen by themselves, to which Paul Revere 
and John Pulling belonged." Tiie mechanics never chose any 
such committee, and John Pulling, a vestryman and a hierchant, 
was never admitted to their secrets as stated. Yet the author, 
suppressing dates, hangs upon his erroneous statements a most 
specious argument, as unjust as it is inaccurate. Two commit- 
tees are mentioned by Mr. Watson, upon which the names of 
Paul Revere and John Pulling appear : the first was a town 
committee and the second a sub-committee of the same. Even 
the appointment of these from the printed record, is not correct- 
ly stated. We quote the passage : 

" I find also in the 'Records of the Boston Committee of Cor- 
respondence, Inspection and Safety,' recently published for the 
first time,* that he and Paul Revere are mentioned together aB 
'Captain John Pulling and Major Paul Revere,' and as chosen 
members of that committee ; and from the titles given them it 
may of course be inferred that they both held commissions in the 
Continental service. f It is also recorded, that ' at a meeting of 
the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Boston, in 
public town meeting assembled, at the Old Brick Meeting 
house,' &c., it was ' voted that Capt. John Pulling, Maj. Paul 
Revere,' and others, ' be appointed a sub-committee to collect 
the names of all persons who have in any way acted against or 
opposed the rights and liberties of this country,' &c." 

The reader will be surprised to learn that the committee first 

*Ncw England Historical ami Genealogical Register, for July, 1876. 
t We do not tliiidv either of them ever held such a commissicu. 



PAUL reverb's signal lanterxs. 43 

named, and not its sub-committee, was elected by the inhabi- 
tants, and that both of them were chosen more than a year after 
the lanterns were shown ; after the Green Dragon secret club 
had done its work ; in fact, after the evacuation of the town by 
Gen. Howe and the end of the war in Massachusetts. The 
committee comprised 27 members, including Adams, Hansock, 
Greenleaf, Mackay, Cooper, Brown, Bradford, Pitts, Appleton, 
Davis, Barber, Proctor, Boyer, &c., and they were elected on the 
29th of March, 1776, at the old brick meeting-house ; and the 
sub-committee on the 7th day of May following, at a meeting of 
the general committee, in the Selectmen's chamber. Of course 
neither of them were chosen by or ever had any connection with 
the Green Dragon mechanics. So that the argument based upon 
this s: range anacronism, and the conclusion assumed to be de- 
rived from it, so far as Pulling is concerned, fall to the ground, 
reflecting upon the fliirness of the reverend author, and making 
it certain that Newman was one of the Green Dragon mechan- 
ics, and the man employed by Paul Revere. It is a little 
doubtful if Pulling and Paul Revere knew each other at all, 
especially as Pulling was out of town until after the evacuation, 
and, as far as we can learn, never acted with the patriots prior 
to March, '76, while Revere, on the contrary, was constantly 
in their employment. 

In connection with this perversion of fact and argument, Mr. 
Watson asks with remarkable confidence, if there is a man 
living who would believe that Paul Revere violated his solemn 
oath " by intrusting to the sexton of the church that secret 
which he had sworn upon the Bible he would discover to no one 
except to the committees, Warren. Hancock, Adams, and one or 
two more?" As we have said, there never was any such com- 



44 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

mittee, previously to the date above mentioned, and Avhen 
the sub-committee named Avas appointed, Warren had been dead 
for nearly a year, and the question, so confidently proposed, 
has no possible application to the case. We agree that Paul 
Revere would not, and did not, "violate his solemn oatii," as he 
must have done had he divulged the secrets of the club to John 
Pulling, who "was never a member of it or its committees, but 
who a year later, after the enemy had been driven out of the 
country, may have served with Revere and others, upon a tcwn 
committee. But the fact is, the signal lanterns were Revere's 
private arrangement, and there is no reason to suppose the club 
had anything to do with them. The arrangement with Colonel 
Conant and others at Oharlestown, was made only two days be- 
fore the lanterns, and was no doubt known to Warren, Newman, 
Capt. Barnard, the two men who rowed him across the river, 
and Col. Conant and his friends at Charlestown. If Revere or 
Newman considered it necessary to have the consent of the war- 
dens or vestrymen of the church, to the display of the lan- 
terns, possibly Pulling may have been privy to it, and this 
may afford an explanation of the family tradition. 

Mr. Watson offers another argument, quite as absurd as that 
which we have disposed of, viz : that the Rector having been 
dismissed, rendered it " easy for Mr. Pulling, a vestry m.an, 
to have entire control of the building," &c. In this case did 
not the Wardens have authority, and would not both rely upon 
the sexton ? Besides, the lanterns were shown on the evenino; 
of the dismissal, before the excitement among the officials of the 
church had subsided; and immediately after the signals, jNIr. 
Pulling, according to his relative, made his escape to Nantasket, 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 45 

and was not heard of again until after the evacuation. So that 
he probably never had control of the building for an hour.* 

There are other statements of Mr. Watson that seem entitled 
to consideration. His kinswoman writes that she " has heard 
the storj from her earliest childhood," and adds '' / know that 
he held the lanterns that night." This is rather positive testi- 
mony for one who was not born for some twenty years after the 
event affirmed. No doubt she "heard the story," as Mr. W'at- 
son says he did from his mother and aunt, and he finally sums 
up the whole in these words, " We have the evidence of family 
tradition that John Pulling was the friend of Paul Revere. ' 
This tradition, however honestly handed down as related, is 
at once met by the numerous adverse family traditions which 
we have given, and there are still more of them. 

Mr. Watson adds to the above, "if the probabilities in the 
case are considered, I think they will sustain the family tradi- 
tions." It is gratifying, considering the authoritative manner 
assumed in presenting the Pulling claim, to meet this sensible 
observation. If all the probabilities were as the writer supposes, 
and as he states them, the argument would be stronger, but they 
are not so : the relations between Revere and Pulling were not 
at all as claimed, and there is not the shadow of authority for 
the strong assertion, put in italics at that, that they " always 



* Dr. Byles's Dismissal. The '-Records of the Proprietors of Pews," 
show that "April 17, 1775, a committee waited on Dr. Byles to Ictiow if he 
intended to leave tlie church." " Tuesday, April 18, 1775," they report that 
Dr. Byles said, " For ray part I am willing to give up the keys and quit the 
church, and hope they will pay me the balance due from the church." 

The meeting accepted his resignation and sent a committee to inform him 
of their action, who came back and reported that Dr. Byles was contented 
with the proceedings. 



46 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 

acted tos^ether.^^ We doubt if they ever "acted together" in 
the sense intended, until after the evacuation. Beyond all ques- 
tion Newman's relations to Revere, to the Green Dragon asso- 
ciates, and to the church, pointed him out as the instrument to 
be employed, just as Revere was the man of all others for Dr. 
Warren to select as his messenger. The disparaging remarks, 
twice repeated, against INIr. Newman are unjust, as we have 
shown,* and in very bad taste. As far as the two men -are 
concerned, there is no reason for Revere's intrusting the service 
to Pulling rather than to Newman. Indeed, Pulling him- 
self, who probably could not have " climbed to the upper window 
of the steeple" in the day time, was much more likely to engage 
the sexton, than to attempt such a thing himself in the dark- 
ness of night, even if Revere had applied to him, to do it. — 
It is not to be supposed for a moment that Revere did not know 
which man to employ. 

Mr. Watson, from want of information on the subject, we are 
disposed to believe, permits himself to make some absurd and 
extravagant remarks, such as the following: "This, of course, 
was the most critical and hazardous part of the whole enter- 



* Mr. Fowle, whi/ knew Robert Newman personally, says on this point, — 
"The slur on Mr. Newman is, to say the least, an error. .Mr. Newman, as 
well as Paul Revere, was educated at Mr. Tilcstoa"s school, and like Mr. Re- 
vere, was a mechanic. All sextons in those days were active and intelligent 
men. Mr. Newman was a man of few words, but prompt and active, capable 
of doing whatever Paul Revere wished to liave done." Of what he sa^'s on 
this subject. Mr. Fowle has the righr to use the words, " I know.'" 

In order to show how Mr. Newman was estimated by the church it may be 
mentioned that in 17'.)1, after many years service, a vote of thanks by tlie Pew 
holders is recorded, as given to Mi". Newni lu, and his further assistance desir- 
ed. Tlic same vote is repeated and his pew tax is ".emitted for several years to 
18J] , and he was reported as prcicnt at the meetings in 1802 and l803.j 



PAUL REVERE'S Sm.'^AL LAlTTERyS. 47 

prise. It was full of difficulty and danger." * * " He," 
meaning Mr. Pulling, " went to the church, locked himself in ; 
and, climbing to the upper window of the steeple, he there wait- 
ed for a favorable moment, and then hung out the signal of 
two lanterns," &c. 

As to this being " the most hazardous part of the whole en- 
terprise," (although it has nothing to do with the question,) the 
statement is an exaggeration ; the service, whatever its risks, is 
not to be compared with that which Revere took upon himself to 
perform. The lanterns were of great importance in the event of 
his captivity, and his ride through the night was full of peril. 
The "climbing to the upper window of the steeple," with lan- 
terns in his hands, would no doubt be difficult to one not famil- 
iar with the way ; but the idea of " waiting for a favorable mo- 
ment," at that height and time of night, is a trifle superfluous.* 
As to the streets of the North end beinsr " full of danger that 
night," and " North square the most dangerous of all," we are 
not aware of any reliable evidence to authorize the statement ; 
but, Avhether there were troops in North Square or not, it is 
certain that lanterns in " the North church steeple, towards 
Charlestown," could not have been seen from, that point.f The 



*The Rev. William Gordon, speaking of this night in a lettei- to a gentle- 
man in England, says, " on the first of the night, when it was very dark, 
the detii/chment," &e. 

t The " Letters of .John Andrews," (Historical Collections,) contain the 
following items in relation to troops at the North End : 

177 J:, December 30. "The marines, consisting of about 500 men, landed 
this forenoon, and have gone into barracks at the extreme part of the North 
Ei.d, by much the titest place for them." 

177-3, January 11th. " This moniiiig thj soldiers in the barracks opposita 



48 PA'&L reverk's signal lanterns. 



movements of the troops were conducted as quietlj as possible, 
and what excitement there was, was in the neighborhood of the 
common. Mr. Fowle says, " No British soldiers ever paraded 
at the North part of Boston. There was only one company at 
Copps' Hill. North End was no place for display : they were 
likely to be interfered with." 

Reported arrest of Mr. Newman. 

There is nothing further in the Pulling story deserving con- 
sideration, excepting the ac;30unt of the arrest of Mr. Newman 
and the escape of Mr. Pulling. When the British heard of the 
signals in the church steeple, they naturally inquired for the 
sexton, and the Rev. Dr. Burroughs says "they found him in 
bed, arrested him and threw him into jail ; but he had taken 
such wise precautions that nothing could be proved against him, 
and he was set at liberty." Mr. Watson, we know not on what 
authority, says he declared that he had given the keys of the 
church to Mr. Pulling and went to bed again, and that this an- 
swer procured his release. If the matter was considered in a 
serious light and ever came before any proper tribunal, it is not 
very likely that such an answer would procure the release of 
the suspected party ; but we are not told who arrested or who 
released him, and we know of no record of any such proceeding. 
Mr. Pulling having been warned, it is said by Mr. Watson, ef- 
fected his escape to Nantasket with his family, and remained 



our house, left it arnl took quarters witli the Royal Irish, in Gould's Auction 
Room or store, in the street leading to Chai-lestown Ferry."' 

Col. Heath's statement of 20th March, (ante, pi?;e 25,) would seem to show 
that these troops had been removed prior to April 18th. 



PAUL RKVERE's signal LANTERNS. 49 

away until " after the siege was raised." Mr. Watson adds, 
" he died soon after he returned to Boston."* 

All we can say, as at present informed, is, that we doubt 
the accuracy of these statements, or whether in fact, Mr. New- 
man was arrested at all, and should like to be informed where 
Mr. Watson gets his information about Mr. Pulling's "watch- 
ing his opportunity" and calling upon Mr. Newman for the 
" keys of the church," and the story of Mr. Newman's arrest, 
especially as his relative from whom he gets the tradition, 
never heard of Mr. Newman. As to Mr. Pulling's escape to 
Nantasket, where Gen. Gage could put his hand upon him at 
any moment, why should he not have joined the patriots at 
Cambridge, who would have protected him, if necessary, or if 
any pursuit had been made ; but there is not a shadow of evi- 
dence of any attempt to arrest Mr. Pulling or any indication 
given that the matter, if known to the British authorities, was 
regardad as an offence to be punished by law : and as to the 
story of his escape with his family in a vessel carrying beer 
to a man-of-war in the harbor, or in a skiff, (which are the ad- 
verse statements,) they are too absurd for belief. No gentleman, 
we venture to say, unless bereft of reason, would so expose 
himself; nor wa? there any ocsasion for his continued absence, 
as far as appears. We repeat, we doubt the whole story, and 
regard the evidence already given that "Robert Newman was 
the man" who held oat the lanterns, as conclusive and satis- 
factory and not to be again disturbed. 

* .Mr. Watson appears to be wrong, as to the birth and death of Pulling, 
in both particulars : He says he was born February 18, 1737, when the clerk's 
record shows that he was baptized February 27, 1736, and instead of dying 
soon after he returned to Boston, was a vestryman until 1786. 



50 PAUL revere's signal lanterns. 



Vlir. CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

In view of what has been said in these pages, there can be 
no doubt as to the purpose of the signal lanterns, or as to the 
place where thej were displayed, if indeed there can be any as 
to the " friend of Paul Revere," who displayed them. It seems 
to the writer as if the evidence on all these points was clear and 
sufficient to place them beyond fuither question. 

The moving spirit of the whole, however, was Dr. Joseph 
Warren, who a month before had delivered his eloquent oration 
on the Boston massacre, and two months later gave up his life 
on what by his sacrifice became the altar of his countiy. The 
importance of his services at this time, which were self-imposed, 
can scarcely be exaggerated, and so far seem not to have been 
fully appreciated, if indeed generally known. 

Dr. Warren had remained in Boston to observe the move- 
ments of Gen. Gage, and was the only one of the patriots in 
town whom the mechanics could consult, or to whom they could 
communicate their observations and proceedings. During the 
time, more than three weeks, that the Provincial Congress and 
the Committee of Safety were in session at Concord, Warren 
was absent from all their meetings, and prompted all that was 
done to keep the patriots informed of the movements and pur- 
poses of Gen. Gage in Boston, and to him and Paul Revere, 
as his messenger, belong the honor of alarming the country in 
season to save most of the cannon and stores at Concord, and 
meet the enemy in that conflict which did so much to arouse 
and unite the colonies in the momentous conflict which followed. 



PAUL REVERE'S signal LANTERNS. 51 

Had this been otherwise ; had not Warren remained in Boston, 
to observe the movements of the British ; had not the country 
been warned and the people aroused, and had Gen. Gage's sol- 
diers been allowed to do his bidding without hindrance, who 
shall say what the consequences might have been, temporarily 
perhaps, to the cause of the country ! 

The signal lanterns were projected by Revere to carry out 
the wishes of Dr. Warren, in case any obstacle should occur to 
prevent him from crossing the river, and at the same time cov- 
ered any contingency that might occur to William Dawes, who 
had preceded him on the same errand over Boston Neck. The 
merit and wisdom of the lanterns, manifested in the foresight 
which suggested them, belong exclusively to Paul Revere, as 
the value and importance of the whole proceeding does to the 
constant devotion and presence of mind of Dr. Warren. 

Conclusions. 

1. That the Signal Lanterns, on the 18th of April, 1775, 
were in pursuance of an arrangement between Paul Revere and 
Colonel Conant and other gentlemen at Charlestow^n. 

2. That the lanterns were shown in " the North Church 
steeple. ^''^ (or Christ Church,) and not in the "old North 
Meeting-house," in North Square. 

3. That the lanterns were shown by Robert Newman, sexton 
of the church, and the friend of Paul Revere. 



Note. The use of the woi'd ' playmates," in speaking of Revere and New- 
man, on pa^a o3, is an inaivertency — Revere was seventeen yeai's his senior. 



HISTOEICAL INACCIIEAC lES, 

CONNKCTEP WITH THK IUtII 01' APRIL. 



The Pictorial Histoi-y of the American Revolution, published in 1877, says, 
on the 18th of April Qen. Gage embarked 800 men " on Charles River, at 
Boston Neck. They sailed up the river, landed at Phipps' Farm, and advanc- 
ed toward Concord." p. 140. The troops embarked at the foot of the com- 
mon and crossed the river down the stream. 

The Student and Schoolmate, vol. 23, 1809, says, " When in April, it was 
known to the committee of safety that the British were to march to Lexington, 
where the patriots had collected military .s.'o/'cs," &c. There were not any 
uiilitai-y stores collected at Lexington. 

A volume " From the Hub to the Hailson,'" published in 1860, speaking of 
Concord, says, " any one will show you the road tiiat leads to the spot where, 
on the 19th of April, 1775, the revolutionary war began. The day before, at 
Lexington, the American militia h;id been fired on by Pitcairn's British re<iu- 
lars," &8. On the next page the author says, " If they had known what had 
happened the day before at Lexington," &c. Such glaring inaccuracy, it is 
not too much to say, is entirely inexcusable. 

Lossing, in his " Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution," states among other 
things, that " Paul Revere and William Dawes had just rowed across the river 
to Chai'lestown," and in his later work, " Our Country," he adopts the mis- 
takes of the poet, and keeps Rcvei'e waiting for his c/wn signals in tiie presence 
of those for whose information they were made and who had seen them. 

Errors of the description of those mentioned have multiplied indefinitely, 
and are to be found where they should not occur. Rev. -Vir. Watson repeats 
the remark that the signal lanterns were for •' the guidance of Revere," and 
the Lexington centennial " Souvenir" mahes the same mistake. Revere knew 
more than the lanterns could tell, and wlien he got across the river, he says, 
'• L told them what was acting, and went to get me a horse." 



REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 

The expiration of a century since the beginning of " that 
train of events which led to the American Revolution," and 
the independence of th3 country, naturally directed the public 
attention to those points in the city proper and its immediate 
n3ighborhood where some of the most important of those events 
occurred, and led to the wish that they should be designated in 
some appropriate manner as landmarks in the local history of 
the ciry. With this purpose in view the City Council of 1876 
took action in the matter which has resulted in the erection of 
three memorials, one in Roxbury, one on Dorchester Heights, 
(South Boston.) and the third, the Tablet now upon the tower 
of Christ Church. 

Tiie monument at Roxbury High Fort and that at Dorchester 
Heights were erected by order of the City Council of 1877, 
and the tablet on Christ Church, as has been stated, by that of 
1878. They are simple and suitable memorials of the impor- 
tant incidents which they commemorate, and the tablet on the 
venerable church, the oldest public building,* (except the Prov- 
ince House), now standing in Boston, is a worthy monument to 
the memory and services of Paul Revere. 



* The dates of tlie pre revoluUonary buildings now standing are as lullows : 
Province House, _ _ _ 1G79 I Old State Ho., 1657, pres. edifice, 1748 
Clirist Church, - - - 17-23 King's Chapel, 1C)88, " " 174'J 
Old South, 1669, present edifice, 172'J j Faneuil Hall, 1742, " '• 1703 



54 REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 



I. TABLET ON CHRIST CHURCH. 

The interesting incident of Paul Revcre's Signal Lanterns 
having been established as related in these pages, the contem- 
plated purpose of the City Government of 1876, in relation to 
the place where they were shown, has been accomplished by 
that of 1878. The Tablet, or block of granite, which has been 
placed upon the tower of Christ Church, on Salem street, to 
commemorate the incident, is 10 ft. 3 inches in length by 6 ft. 4 
inches in Avidth, and one foot in thickness. It is placed 42 feet 
above the sidewalk : the letters are 6 and 8 inches in hein^ht, 
and the inscription may be easily read from the street. 

There lias been for some years past, a question as to the real 
purpose of the signal lanterns, mainly growing out of the mis- 
takes of the poet, and this, in view of what has baen done to- 
wards correction, may well deserve a moment's consideration. 
It was very natural to suppose tliat the signals were made for 
Paul Revere and that he was waiting on the opposite shore. 
This inference was incorporated as history into the poem of Mr. 
Longfellow, who has said that "he found the incident [of the 
lanterns] mentioned in a magazine, and that it gave him the 
idea of the poem." Since the poem was published, the popular 
belief has conformed to its teachings, so much so that the com- 
mittee of the City Council, in 1876-7, appear to have accepted 
the poet's version as veritable history, and proposed the follow- 
ing inscription for the tablet : " The lanterns hung from this 
tower signalled to Paul Revere the march of the British troops 
upon Concord and Lexington." 



REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 55 

When this appeared in print, the Avriter having already taken 
some interest in the subject, addressed a note to Mayor Pierce, 
suggesting that the proposed inscription was '"inaccurate and 
untruthful," and hoping that it Avou'ld be corrected before being 
put in place. Not having had his attention called to the subject 
the Mayor handed the note to the City Clerk, who replied, 
" that the inscription was ordered by vote of the City Council, 
after a hearing upon the subject, and cannot be changed except 
by a similar vote authorizino; such chano;e," and suo-irestino; that 
others had desired to substitute '' the Patriots" for " Paul Re- 
vere," which he regarded as merely technical. 

Believing such an inscription a perversion of history, and the 
perpetuation of an error, for which in view of Paul Revere's 
own relation, there could be no excuse, we could not hesitate to 
make a still more earnest effort for its correction, even though 
the tablet, as we were told, had been executed. Thereupon, we 
addressed a second letter to JNIayor Pierce : 

" Concord, (Mass) March 23, 1878. 
" Dear Sir, I trust you will allow me to acknowledge to you 
the receipt of a note from the City Clerk in answer to mine of 
the 20th, addressed to you. If, as he understands, my objection 
(so to speak) was merely technical, it would perhaps have been 
undeserving any answer. My statement was that the proposed 
inscription was both "inrccurate and untruthful," and if you 
will allow me, I will specify the points wherein it is so. The 
lanterns were in no sense signals to Paul Revere, but. on the 
contrary, were his signals to Col. Conant and others, at Charles- 
town, made by special agreement between them, and the state- 
ment is therefore inaccurate and untruthful. Paul Revere did 
not see them ; thet/ were not ma le for Idni^ and he did not 
need to see them. They did not signal to him the "march of 
the British troops," for he knew of the movement befjre he left 



56 REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 

Boston. Tlie sole object of tlie signal lanterns was to alarm the 
country of the movement of the British troops, (through Col. 
Conant and other gentlemen,) in case he (Paul Revere), should 
be seized or otherwiric prevented from crossing the river to give 
the alarm himself, and carry Dr. Warren's message to Lexing- 
ton. I repeat, they were in no sense signals to Paul Revere, 
' while on the opposite shore,' as the poet says, but his signals to 
the ixentlemen mentioned, and we now know would have accom- 
plisiied their purpose by his foresight in the matter, had ho been 
seized or upset in the river. If these things are so, is not the 
proposed inscription ' inaccurate and untruthful,' and should it 
not be revised and corrected ? 

" Allow me to add a brief word of criticism. The proposed 
inscription, if my copy is correct, says ' march of the British 
troops 2ipoti Concord and Lexington.' The use of the preposi- 
tion ' upon,' I think, is objectionable, and the sentence reads as 
if we should say, in another case, ' the Massachusetts troops 
marched upon Washington and Baltimore.' " 

" I trust your Honor will excuse what niay seem to be med- 
dlesome on my part, in addressing a second note to you on this 
subject ; but it impresses me very strongly that the perversion 
of history in putting up such an inscription cannot be in accord- 
ance with the character of the people of Boston. I may add 
that I have no personal interest in the matter, or any connection 
with those who may have, and am prompted only by the interest 
which I feel in my native city, in which, in my boyhood, I was 
permitted to drive my mother's cow to our pasture on Boston 
Common. Very respectfully," &c. 

In connection with the delivery of this letter, Mayor Pierce 
induU'ed the writer in a partial hearing of the matter, in the 
presence of the Chairman of the Board of Aldermen, President 
of the Council, City Clerk, Architect, and other members of 
the government: and the same evening, by the prompt action ot 



REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 57 

these gentlemen, an order Avas passed by the Board of Aldermen, 
and subsequently by the Common Council, authorizing His 
Honor the Mayor to correct the inscription. In doing this it 
became necessary to re-write it, and owing to the position it was 
to occupy, to make it as brief as possible. The necessity for the 
sijcnal lanterns arose from the fact that Dr. Warren wished Re- 
vere to carry a message to Hancock and Adams, to warn them 
and the country, when the British troops should march to 
seize the stores and ammunition at Concord. Fearing it might 
not be possible to cross the river, when this message became 
necessary, Paul Revere, on his return from Lexington, on the 
previous Sunday, (April 16th), made an arrangement with 
Colonel Conant and other gentlemen at Charlestown, to convey 
the information to them by means of one or two signal lanterns 
in the steeple of the North Church ; and this necessity arose 
on the evening of April 18, 1775. As it was impossible to in- 
clude all these circumstances in the inscription, the language 
adopted is as follows : 



THE SIG^fAL LA^^TERNS OF 
PAUL REVERE, 

DISPLAYED IN THE STEEPLE OF THIS CHURCH, 

APRIL 18, 1775, 

WARNED THE COUNTRY UF THE MARCH 
OF THE BRITISH TROOPS TO 

I LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 

The Tablet was placed in position without any ceremony of 
inauguration on the 17th of October, 1878. 



58 REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 



II. ROXBURY HIGH FORT. 

Tub Monument at Roxbnrj is on the site of the old fort at 
Highland Park. When Gen. Washington took command of the 
troops around Boston. July, 1775, ho found, as he says, a com- 
plete line of circum valla tion from Charles River to Mystic Riv- 
er, and at Boston Iveck, he said, " Our people have intrenched 
across the outer end. and are strongly fortified there and on the 
hill near the meeting-house" — referrino; to the fort \vhich had 
been built there — one of several in the line. 

Dr. Belknap, speaking of the fortifications at Roxbury, Oc- 
tober, 1775, says "a wall of earth is carried across the street 
to W illiams' old house, where there is a formidable fort, mount- 
ed with cannon." Finch, in his account of "Forts around Bos- 
ton," says, -'The lowest fort in Roxbury appears to have been 
the first erected, and by its elevation commanded the avenue to 
Boston over the peninsula, [Neck], and prevented the advance 
of British troops in that direction. * * On a higher 

eminence of the same hill is situated a quadrangular fort, built 
on the summit of a rock, and being perhaps the first attempt at 
a regular fortification, it was considered by the militia of unpar- 
alleled strength, and e.xcited great confidence in that wing of the 
army stationed at Roxbury." 

Cannon were placed in this fort at the time of its construc- 
tion, and the first shot, it is said, were thrown from them into 
the town, on the first of July, the day before Washington reach- 
ed Watertown. The next day the British returned the fire 
from the lines on the Neck. 




MOIs'UMENT AT HIGHLAND PAEK, 
ROXBURY, 1877. 



REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 59 

The Monument is about 6 feet in height and 4 feet wide, 
in the form of a mounted tablet, with a cannon at each end and 
balls on the top, all of granite, elevated on a mound of earth. 

T(ie following is the inscription : 



ON TUIS EMINENCE STOOD 

ROXBURY HIGH FORT, 

A STUONG EARTHWORK PLANNED BY 

HENRY KNOX AND .JOSIAH WATERS, 

and krectkd by the american army 

June, 1775, crowning the famous 

ROXBURY LIJJES OF INVESTMENT AT THE 

SIEGE OF BOSTON. 



III. DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 

The second Monument is at Dorchester Heights, South Bos- 
ton. The occupation of Dorchester Heights was one of the most 
brilliant and effective achievements of the war. It was origi- 
nally proposed by the Committee of Safety, at the time of the 
occupation of Banker Hill, when it was understood to be the 
purpose of Gren. G:ige to do so ; but the battle of Bunker Hill 
prevented the movement by either party, and the position re- 
mained unoccupied during the year. In February, 177*^), the 
river and harbor being frozen over, a Council of War was called 
to consider the plan of attacking the British over the ice. This 
plan had long engaged the attention of Washington, but was at 
once deemed unfeasible, and then was renewed the proposal to 
occupy Dorchester Heights, for which preparations had already 
been made. The proposition was at once adopted by the Coun- 
cil, and on the evening of the 4th of March, after a cannonad- 



60 REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS. 

ing from other points for the two preceding days, the lieights 
-were occupied, and before 10 o'clock, on the morning of the 5th 
of March, the works were completed and manned. Gen. Heath 
says. " Perhaps there never was so much work done in so short 
a time," and Gen. Howe was astonished and declared that his 
" whole army could not have accomplished so much work in a 
month." The "novel mode of defence" around these works, 
which made them unapproachable, was suggested by a Boston 
merchant, and is described in a letter to the Avriter from a gen- 
tleman in Texas, who heard the story from Rev. Oliver A. Shaw, 
told to him when a boy, by his grandfather in Cambridge : 

•• Twenty-five hogsheads filled with earth and stones, were 
placed on the brow of the hill, and each secured by a single 
stake driven into the ground in front, in such a manner, that, 
as soon as it was removed, the hogshead would begin to roll 
down. One man [and Mr. Shaw said his grandfather was one 
oftliera,J was placed at each hogshead. When the red-coats 
were half-way up the hill, the stakes were to be drawn, and 
each man to give his hogshead a kick, and start it forward, and 
then run for the fort." The hogsheads, or barrels, accomplished 
their purpose, as no army could have gone up in face of them. 

The fort commanded the town and the harbor. 

The following is the inscription on the monument : 

LOCATION OF THE AMERICAN REDOl/BT, i 

ON 

DORCHESTER HEIGHTS, 

I 

WHICH COMPELLED THE EVACUATION \ 

of boston by the british army 
March 17, 1776. 



NEW CHAPTER 



HISTORY OF THE CONCORD FIGHT. 



It is not very remarkable, perhaps, that the centennial pe- 
riod since the beginning of the revolutionary war should be the 
occasion of bringing to light some new matter in relation to its 
early incidents, in regard to which more or less secrecy was pre- 
served and names withheld at the time. It seems from evidence 
which has lately come to the knowledge of the writer, by a cas- 
ually dropped remark, concerning the Concord Fight, that the 
alarm of the movement of General Gage, to seize the cannon, 
stores and ammunition in that town, was more widely spread in 
Middlesex county than heretofore supposed. It appears from 
the testimony of Mr. Artemas Wright, of Ayer. who is a grand- 
son of Mr. Nathan Corey, of Groton, that there were several 
members of the Groton company of Minute men at Concord on 
the morning of the 19th of April, who were in the fight at the 
North Bridge and joined in the pursuit of the British troops in 
the retreat to Lexington. Mr. Wright says his grandfather told 
him the story and often talked of the scenes of that day. 

His narration was that on the day before, April 18, while he 
was ploughing in his field, some distance from the middle of the 
town, he received notice of a meeting of the Minute men, which 
of course demanded immediate attention. It was towards even- 
ing when he received the notice. He at once drove his oxen 
home, took down his gun and powder horn, (which latter w;i,s 
preserved by Mr. W. for many years, until it was destroyed in 
the burning of his house), told his wife Molly that he was going 
away and did not know when he should come back, lighted a 
pine torch (for the roads at this time went by marks on the 
trees,) and went to the middle of the town. The news, which 



62 HISTORY OF THE COXCOKD MGIFT. 

was before them in the shupe of bv.iss cannon, and the subject 
of going to Concord, were talked over, and the company voted 
not to march that night. This, it seems, was not the disposi- 
tion of all the members, and some of them determined to go at 
once, and nine of them, with young Corey among them, started 
for Concord, travelled all night and reached there at an early 
hour in the morning, entering one side of the town some iiours 
before the British troops entered on the other. Mr. Corey said 
they all went and got some breakfast at the house of Col. Bar- 
rett, which was afterwards visited by British troops in search of 
cannon and stores, most of which had been removed to places of 
safety. After getting something to eat, they proceeded towards 
the centre of the town and finally joined the men of Concord at 
or near the Bridge, where the fight occurred. They continued 
with the minute men and followed the retreating troops. 

This story, according to the accepted history of the time, ap- 
pears to be wholly improbable, and must remain so unless it can 
be explained, as wo think it can be. The objection to be met 
and answered is, How could the people of Groton, 30 miles from 
Boston, at the time the British troops were moving towards 
their boats, know anything of Gen. Gage's purpose, or design 
to visit Concord ? This is the matter to be explained after the 
lapse of more than a century. 

It is well known to readers who are familiar with the history 
of this period that Dr. Warren sent a message by Paul Revere 
to Hancock and Adams, at Lexington, on Sunday, April 16th, 
1775, that the British were preparing for an excursion into the 
country, and it was at once understood that the stores and am- 
munition collected at Concord, were the object. Revere deliv- 
ered his message and returned on Sunday night. On Monday 
morning the Committees of Safety and Supplies, at Concord, 
(not having adjourned when the congress did), commenced their 
session before Hancock arrived. They voted that Col. Barrett 
should mount some cannon, form an artillery company and era- 
ploy a teacher ; and then voted to adjourn to Wednesday morn- 
ing. After this, it is supposed, Hancock arrived and communi- 



HISTORY OF THE CONCORD FIGHT. 63 

cated the intelligence he had received from Dr. Warren. The 
Committees then voted •' that the four six pounders be trans- 
ported to Groton and placed under the care of Col. Prescott," 
the representative from that town ; and other cannon were or- 
dered to be sent to Acton for safe keeping. (It will be recol- 
lected that only a short time before this, Gage sent Col. Leslie 
to Salem to seize some pieces of cannon there.) The next day 
the cannon were on the way to Groton, and arrived there late in 
the afternoon of Tuesday, 18th, while the British troops were 
getting ready to embark at Boston. 

It may now be pretty confidently asked, What message did 
the appearance of those cannon at Groton communicate to the 
minute men of that town ? There cannot be a doubt as to 
the tale they told, even if the men who carried them had been 
speechless. The proceedings which followed, as we have stated 
them, were both natural and reasonable, even supposing the vol- 
unteers moved by curiosity alone : a mt're desire to see British 
soldiers. The minute men were promptly called together, and 
some of them determined to go to Concord that night; and while 
Col. Smith was moving his troops over the Cambridge marshes 
and swamps, these patriots were on their way to meet them at 
Concord Bridge and hang upon their rear in the retreat, which, 
we have no doubt, they did. 

— Since the first publication of this matter. Dr. Samuel A. 
Green, a native of Groton, has publi.shed a handsome volume, 
illustrated, entitled -'Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground 
in Groton, Mass." One of the inscriptions, found upon the 
monument to the memory of Capt. Abram Child, contains the 
following sentence : "He was a Lieutenant araono; the Minute 
men. and aided in the Concord Fight and the Battle of Bunker 
Hill. 1775." Tlie remainder of the inscription shows that Capt. 
Child went through the war with Washington, and was the oldest 
captain in the service at the capture of Stoney Point, in 1779. 
He was just the man for a night expedition tc Concord. 



EVENTS AND MOVEMENTS OF THE EXPEDITION TO 
LEXLNGTON AND CONCORD. 

Prepared bj WlUiam W. Wheildon. 

Saturday, April 15th, 1775- ' 

Provincial Congress at Concord ; afternoon adjourned without day, 

Sunday, AI'Bil 16th. 
First message sent to Lexington by Paul Revere. 
Evening : Ilevere's arrangement with Col. Conant for the lanterns. 

Monday, Apiul 17th. 
Committees of Safety and Supplies, at Concord ; artillery cannon order- 
ed to Groton and Acton ; afternoon, adjourned to Menotomy. 
Tuesday, April 18th. 
Committees meet at 'Menotomy in the morning, and adjourn at sunset. 
Evening : Devens and Watson meet British officers on the road, and then 

return to Menotomy, and send a message to Hancock. 
\) o'clock, British troops moving from the common towards the river. 
10 o'clock, William Dawes despatched over the Neck. 
10.30, Troops in the boats. Revere despatched. 
11, j^ignals seen. Revere across the river; ready to start. 
12 o'clock, British troops commence the march from Phipps' Farm. 
" Revere at Clark's house in Lexington. Dawes arrives soon after. 
Wednesday, April 19th. 
1 to 2, A. M. Lexington alarmed ; minute men on the field ; Revei-e and 
Dawes start for Concord ; captured by British officers ; Prescott effects 
his escape and spreads the alarm to Concord. 
5 o'clock, British troops tire upon and kill minute men at Lexington. 
7 to 7.30, British troops enter Concord. 

7.30 to 8, Americans retreat over the North Bridge to the high ground. 
8, Reinforcements under Percy start from Boston. 
9.30, Acton company arrive at Concord and join the minu'e men. 

10, British troops at Col Barretts. Destruction of stores, burning cannon 

carriages, wheels, &c. in town. Alarm of fire. 
" Dr. Warren rode through Charlestown. Gen Heath in the fieM. 

11, Americans attempt to cross back over the bridge ; shots exchanged. 

Fight at the North Bridge; British an<l Americms killed ; British 
retreat and join the main body. 

12, British troops move from the town, followed and fired upon by the 
minute men. 

12.30, fighting at Merriam's corner ; British soldiers killed. 

2, P. M., met Percy's brigade of reinforcements at Lexington. 

5 and G, fighting at .VIenotomy. Danvers troops arrive and engaged. 

6.30, Pickering's Regiment arrives near Prospect Hill, a little too late. 

7 and 8, British arrive at Prospect Hill and reach Charlestown soon after. 

'.), 10, 11, boats of the Somerset removing the wounded across the river. 



HISTOEY 



OF 



Paul Utvtxts Signal Cantenis 



APRIL 18, 1775, 



IN THE 

STEEPLE OF THE NORTH CHURCH : 

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF 

THE TABLET ON CHRIST CHURCH AND THE MONUMENTS AT 
HIGHLAND PARK AND DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 



BY ^VILLIAM W. WHEILDON. 



"WITH HELIOTYPE OF CHRIST CHURCH. 



BOSTON : 
LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers. 

1878. 



PUBLICATIONS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



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TRI MOUNTAIN A3 SEEN FROM CHARLESTOWN IN 1630. 



V 



HISTORY OF JBEACOJV HILL. 

SENTRY, OR BEACON HILL : The Beacon and the Mon- 
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Maps Bud Heliotypes. Author's private composition studio. 8vo. pp. 120. 
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• > 



